


Asleep

by Murphysoutlaw



Series: Asleep, Awake, Alive [1]
Category: The Twilight Saga
Genre: Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:26:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28241622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murphysoutlaw/pseuds/Murphysoutlaw
Summary: The Swan twins, Bella and Beau, are returning to Forks, Washington. Beau is having difficulty when Edward Cullen, a good-looking but hostile guy singles him out in Biology. Bella is trying to help her brother, but she reconnects with her childhood friend, Jacob Black, a storyteller and a ball of sunshine.Honestly this is just a rewrite of the whole series with Bella and Beau as twins, but Beau is gay like he was always meant to be.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Carine Cullen/Earnest Cullen, Edward Cullen/Beau Swan, Eleanor Cullen/Rosalie Hale, Jacob Black/Bella Swan
Series: Asleep, Awake, Alive [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068800
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. First Sight

Preface  
1\. Bella  
I’d never given much thought to how I would die; but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.  
I stared, not daring to breathe, across the long room and into the eyes of the hunter. He looked back at me pleasantly.  
Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.  
I knew that we should never have come to Forks. There were plenty of opportunities to leave, and we should have taken them. But, even knowing what I knew now, I would have stayed.  
The hunter smiled at me in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.  
2\. Beau  
There’s a moment, somewhere between numbness and hysteria, when something terrible has happened and no one else has realized it yet. Soon, everyone else would know, and be hurt.  
I took in ragged breaths, perhaps my last, and all the things I wished I had done differently. But they all seemed inevitable; all of us were merely players on a much larger stage.  
I ignored my death, stalking me from behind. I was too late. The curtains were closing, and I was caught center stage.  
I heard the final lunge, and I closed my eyes.  
  
1\. FIRST SIGHT  
BELLA-------------  
WE DROVE TO THE AIRPORT WITH THE windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix. Though I was wearing my favorite shirt- sleeveless, with eyelet lace, I was still sweating. I sat beside my mother, happily chatting away while she drove us to the airport, and my brother, Beau in the back seat. Despite remaining vocally positive about this whole affair, he was sulking when he thought we weren’t looking.  
We were headed to Forks, Washington, where we had all lived until Beau and I were a few months old. Our father still lived there. It was okay, in small doses. We had spent every summer there until we were fourteen, opting to meet in California instead.  
I would miss my mom, but I did love the rocky beaches, the tidepools, and the fog. It was book-reading weather. The rain, I was less excited about. It rained in Forks more than any other town in the United States of America.  
The rest of Forks, I detested. The fishing, the tiny town, no real public library. I loved Phoenix, despite the heat. I loved the sprawling city, the farmer’s markets, the bookstores, the school.  
“Kids,” my mom said- the last of a thousand times- “You could always stay.”  
My mom looks like me, but with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of guilt as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could we abandon our mother, both of us? She had Phil now, so there would probably be food in the fridge and gas in the car. The bills would probably get paid. But still…  
“I want to go” Beau said, glancing at me. “We haven’t seen Forks in so long.”  
I nodded in false agreement, gulping down the lump in my throat. I was a terrible liar, and didn’t think I could pull off a verbal lie about wanting to go to Forks. My mother wrinkled her nose. She hated Forks as much as we did.  
“Tell Charlie I said hi.”  
“We will, mom,” I said.  
“I‘ll see you soon,” she insisted, hugging each of us. I didn’t want to let go. Beau tugged on my hair, and I let go, slapping his hand.  
“I mean it,” she said. “I’ll come right back as soon as you need me.” But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.  
“Don’t worry about us,” said Beau. “It’ll be great!” He wasn’t a very good liar either. His faux enthusiasm was sounding closer to tears than excitement.  
“I love you mom,” I said.  
We all hugged again, and then we were on the plane and she was gone.  
We had a layover in Seattle before finally landing in Port Angeles, and then, most terrifying of all, an hour-long car ride with Charlie, our dad.  
Charlie had been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that we were coming to live with him for the first time with any permanence. He’d already registered us for high school, and was going to help us get cars. I was worried, though. I didn’t really want to share a room with Beau, though we were twins.  
Firstly, we were much older than when we had first shared the room in Charlie’s house. Secondly, Beau had insomnia. He would stay awake, reading, thinking, just generally bothering me. He could get just a few hours sleep, and still be energetic the next day, while I would be a zombie. Lastly, I talked in my sleep. My mother and Beau had insisted I had never said anything embarrassing, but I could never be sure, and in any case I’m sure it didn’t help with Beau’s insomnia.  
We landed in Port Angeles, and it was raining. I was expecting that; I had already said my goodbyes to the sun. But Beau looked out at the clouds mournfully. My brother had a tan from being in the sun so much. He would be as pale as me soon.  
Charlie was waiting with the cruiser outside of the airport. This, I was also expecting. Charlie was Chief of police to the good people of Forks. Beau winced, and I waved.  
Charlie gave us each an awkward, one-armed hug as we stumbled out.  
“It’s good to see you,” he smiled. “You’ve both grown. How’s Renee?”  
“Mom’s good,” Beau said.  
“It’s good to see you too, Dad” I added. I wasn’t allowed to call him Charlie to his face.  
We had just a few bags. It all easily fit into the trunk of the cruiser. I caught Beau automatically as he fell over his own feet trying to get in the cruiser. He reddened a bit, and quickly found his balance.  
“Well, I found a good car,” Charlie said.  
“Just the one?”  
“What kind of car?”  
“It’s a truck, actually, a Chevy. And I have my eye on a few others. I figure for a while you two can carpool to school.”  
“Of course,” I said. I didn’t see any reason not to, even if we had two cars. I never had many plans, or friends.  
“A Chevy?” Beau asked.  
“Do you remember Billy Black, down at La Push?” La Push was a tiny native reservation on the coast.  
“No,” I said.  
“Yes,” Beau said.  
“He used to go fishing with us during the summer.” Ah, fishing. I had probably repressed it. “It’s really not that old, and Billy’s son, Jacob, helped him fix it up, so it runs great.”  
“How much?” I asked. After all, that was the part I couldn’t budge on.  
“Well, I sort of already bought it. As a homecoming gift” Wow. Free.  
“Dad! You didn’t have to do that,” Beau said.  
Charlie cleared his throat. “Don’t mention it. I want you kids to be happy here.”  
“Thanks, dad.” I managed, looking straight ahead. “I really appreciate it.” No need to add that there was no way to be happy in Forks. Charlie didn’t need to suffer, too.  
We were quiet as we continued. I stared out the window, taking in the scenery.  
It was beautiful, of course; everything was a lush green. There was life bursting from every inch. The trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with canopies of it, the ground, covered in soft-looking ferns. Even the air filtered down looking green.  
“It looks like an alien planet,” Beau murmured.  
Eventually we made it to Charlie’s. He still lived in the same small, two-bedroom house, just as I had feared. Though it largely looked the same, the garage door was gone, replaced with a wall that matched the rest of the house with multiple windows, covered with heavy curtains. It sat near the edge of the forest, the other houses spread out in seemingly random distances along the road, like fallen beads off a broken necklace, and barely visible through the trees.  
Then, he parked on the street. The driveway was taken up by the new truck- well, new to us. It was bulbous, faded red with pockets of rust, and rounded fenders.  
I loved it. I didn’t know if it would run, but I could see myself in it. I would have to buy Beau out of his share. This was my truck.  
“Thanks, dad,” I said again, though this time with more enthusiasm. Now I wouldn’t have to choose between accepting a ride in the cruiser or walking two miles through the rain tomorrow.  
“I’m glad you like it,” he said gruffly, embarrassed.  
We didn’t need more than one trip to get everything in, but Charlie stopped us in the familiar living room. Like the single, odd change to the garage, there was an additional door in the wall, right where the end of the garage would be. Charlie had kept boxes and boxes of tools, memories, and old bits of electronics in the spaces around where he parked his cruiser. I looked inquisitively at the new door, and Charlie must have seen me.  
“Bathroom,” he said. “I thought we could use another one.”  
I smiled at him, at least one annoyance gone. He must have spent all year on this- and quite a bit of money. I went to look at it, but Charlie stopped me with the raise of a hand.  
“I know you’re both older now,” he started.  
Beau and I exchanged a look. A house rules talk? Charlie was hardly a draconian parent, and in any case Beau and I never really did anything anyway.  
“So, I have sort of been putting together a surprise.”  
Beau looked alarmed. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.  
Charlie walked through the small, bright kitchen and through the garage door. He gestured we follow.  
Instead of the packed storage area I had remembered, there was a small bedroom, with windows on the two sides that looked out on the backyard and side of the house.  
“Wow!” Beau and I said together. For once, I wasn’t annoyed at the mimic. My fears of sharing a room with my brother started to evaporate.  
“I didn’t think it was right that either of you sleep on the couch, and I don’t think my back could take it,” Charlie said, still gruff.  
Beau was nearly bouncing on his heels. The room was full of light, though a bit drafty. He wanted it.  
“Now, I know this room is bigger,” said Charlie. “But whoever takes the upstairs room gets the upstairs bathroom to themselves,” he said. “I’ll share with whoever takes the garage.”  
“I’ll take the private bathroom, thanks,” I said, and grinned.  
Beau grinned back at me, and then at Charlie.  
“Well, Charlie said, at his limit, “I’ll help you carry your bags up, Bella.”  
This room was familiar. Baby blue walls, a wooden floor, a peaked ceiling, and the yellow lace curtains around the window. The only changes over the years were the trading of cribs to a bunk bed, now replaced with a smaller twin bed, and a desk. The rocking chair from our baby days was still in the corner.  
One of the best things about Charlie is he doesn’t hover. He left me alone to unpack and get settled, a feat that would be altogether impossible for my mother to accomplish. It was nice to be alone, to not have to smile or lie. I couldn’t yet go on a real crying jag- Beau could come up at any moment- but I knew one would come after everyone had gone to bed.  
For some reason, we would have to go to school tomorrow, instead of giving us a day to settle. Forks high school had a frightening total of three hundred and fifty-seven- now fifty-nine- students. It seemed ridiculous, now, to be here. I didn’t have many friends in Phoenix, and I probably wasn’t going to make more now. These kids had grown up together all their lives, their grandparents had grown up together, and they would look at the outsider twins like a freak show. I didn’t have many friends, but Beau really had less, the same ones since kindergarten.  
Maybe he would do okay. He had a tan, and despite his inability to walk across a flat surface without cleats on, he was a decent athlete, too. Not that he would get any scholarships out of it, but he was decent enough to make the school team. Neither of us were tall, or blonde, or anything else that would go with living in the valley of the sun.  
And I was ivory-skinned, without even the excuse of red hair or blue eyes. I had always been slender, but soft, obviously not an athlete. And as clumsy as Beau was off the field, I was worse on it. I had no skill whatsoever.  
After I finished putting away my meager wardrobe, I explored my new private bathroom, already emptied out, though it still smelled like shaving cream and Charlie’s cologne. The smell had me tearing up a little. It smelled like dad. It smelled like a man whose wife had left him seventeen years ago, who had never remarried, and who still wore cologne dutifully. I would have to thank Charlie again. For the truck, for the privacy.  
I looked in the mirror as I brushed through my tangled, damp hair. I looked unhealthy. My skin could be pretty- I had escaped the acne that had plagued Beau through middle school- but it all depended on the light, on color. There was no color here.  
It was useless anyway. I couldn’t relate to my friends, my mother, or even my twin. How was I supposed to relate to anyone at school, color in my face or not?

Beau-------------  
This is what summer smells like in Phoenix: it smells like drippy, sticky watermelon juice and salty sunflower seeds. It smells like mosquito spray and dusty dirt mingling with sweat as the sun sets and the heat breaks, just a bit. It smells like air coolant in an old car’s air conditioner, like the musty thrift stores where back-to school clothes are bought, like coke when the ice has melted already, after just a few seconds. Like a bonfire in the desert.  
Forks had been the place where we had spent our summers up until we were fourteen, at least a month of summer. But Forks in the fall wasn’t anything like it. It smelled different. It looked different.  
I looked around my room. A twin bed, a dresser, a bedside table, and a desk filled out most of two walls. The other two were bare, except for the large windows, and a door that had once led to the backyard. It was painted over, and locked when I tried to jiggle it. Though it still had a widow in it. I opened all the curtains, but kept the windows shut. It was drafty enough.  
I thought of bothering Bella, knowing Charlie wouldn’t be much for conversation. But Bella wasn’t really, either, happy to have let mom and I talk away and occasionally chiming in.  
It was different at school, and I knew it would be here, too. Bella was quiet, but not shy exactly, not like me. She could carry a conversation with a stranger, she could answer questions in class, even if she didn’t like it. I had the same friends since I was five. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to anyone else, and I turned red if anyone talked to me.  
I didn’t particularly miss my old friends, although I would appreciate knowing who I would sit by in class, and at lunch. I wouldn’t even have a baseball team; Forks was too small.  
Charlie ordered pizza for dinner, and had to drive up to pick it up. No delivery places. It would be a long couple of years.

The next morning, I could only see thick fog outside. I was already feeling claustrophobic. I hadn’t seen the sun in what felt like years. It was like living in a cage.  
Breakfast was a quiet affair. Charlie wished us luck at school, though the look Bella gave me confirmed that she knew as I did; Charlie’s luck was wasted.  
I thanked him, useless as his hope was. He left, off to the police station for another busy day of playing cards with his deputy and listening for the rarely-used phone to ring.  
It was too early to leave, and Bella went upstairs. I examined the kitchen, the brightly painted cabinets that my mother, in her brief stint, had made yellow in an attempt to bring some light into the room. The tiny living room beside it had a small fireplace, and above that was a row of pictures. First of Charlie and mom, then of our school pictures through the years. I would have to get the middle school ones down somehow.  
I had to look away. I never wanted to live in Forks, but how could we have left Charlie here by himself so much? It seemed cruel, now. I silently promised myself I would stick it out.  
I liked mom’s new husband, Phil. He was actually a minor-league player, and I enjoyed going to his games, playing catch, maybe learning enough to be a real player myself someday.  
I knew that was a wasted fantasy; I was too short by spades. Maybe I would hit a growth spurt soon. I couldn’t be seventeen forever.  
I brushed my teeth again, just to get out of the living room, and we were finally leaving. I walked out of the front door before realizing that I had forgotten my jacket, a necessity in Forks. I spun around, but Bella was already holding it out to me.  
“Thanks.”  
She smirked at me, and hustled over to the truck, keeping her jacket tight around her.  
I got into my jacket and into the passenger side of the truck as she attempted to turn the heater on. The truck made a lot of noise just by being on, but the heater added enough noise that we were unable to talk. It smelled like an old truck should. Like tobacco, and peppermint, and gasoline.  
We pulled into the school parking lot, or what must have been the school. It had a sign reading “Forks High School,” but it was more a collection of buildings than anything else. It seemed like the least appropriate place to need to walk outside between classes that I could imagine. It had begun to drizzle, confirming my fear. We got out and walked into a building marked “Front Office.” No one else was parked there. Bella hurried inside. I took a deep breath, and followed.  
Inside was brightly lit, and warm. It was small, and overflowing with plants. The separated buildings made a bit more sense now; it must be much easier to heat. I relaxed a bit. The room was dissected by a long counter, covered in a rainbow of flyers. A woman sat at one of three desks behind the counter. She had red hair and a purple t-shirt. She looked up, and smiled warmly. “You two must be Isabella and Beaufort.”  
I grimaced, and imagined Bella was doing the same.  
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. We were expected. I’m sure no one in this tiny town was unaware of who we were. The Chief’s children from his flighty ex-wife, home at last.  
“Of course.” She dug through an alarmingly large pile of papers on her desk before handing both of us a few pages. “Your schedules, and a map of the school.”  
I looked at my classes, a little confused. There was no way I was in advanced Spanish- I had taken French in Phoenix.  
The schedule was out of my hands and Bella was handing me hers- well, mine. I checked for my name this time as the woman went over the map and handed us both slips to have our teachers sign. We needed to turn it in by the end of the day.  
“I’m afraid this far into classes we couldn’t fit you both into all the same classes together,” the woman said.  
“We usually don’t take the same classes,” Bella frowned.  
“That’s interesting,” the woman said, sincerely. I grabbed Bella’s arm before she could say something sarcastic. Bella could be a regular crack-up, the last thing we needed on our first day of school.  
“Thank you,” I said, and tried to smile convincingly.  
“Thanks,” Bella added, a little apologetically as she twisted her arm away.  
Bella started heading back to the truck.  
“I’ll see you later,” she said. “I think we have gym together.”  
I laughed. “Good luck!”  
She rolled her eyes and headed to move the truck over to student parking as I made my way to my first class. It was still much too early, but if I could avoid introducing myself at the front of the class, I would. I kept my jacket pulled around my face. I was relieved to see the plain black second-hand jacket didn’t stand out here.  
Back in Phoenix, we lived in a poorer neighborhood. We weren’t impoverished, really, though we had to make do with a lot of second-hand things. It didn’t seem like it would be too much of a problem, here.  
Building seven, marked with a huge “7,” was much easier to see than I had feared. I imagined everything would be covered in a fog so dense, I would break my nose running into a wall I couldn’t see. Best not to think about that, and tempt fate.  
I walked through the door, the first one through. Was I too early? Was that strange? I busied myself inspecting the map that I had been given. Though it was tucked in my backpack outside, it still managed to be slightly damp. Nice.  
A short woman with salon-streaked hair walked in, obviously too old to be a student, though she may have been shorter than all of them.  
“Bonjour!” The woman was enthusiastic. “Je m’appelle Madame Valentine. Comment tu t’appelles?”  
“Beau,” I answered, already looking at the floor.  
“En francais,” she responded, still smiling widely. We were not going to get along. People were starting to walk in.  
As I had feared, I had to introduce myself in French in the front of class before she would sign my slip. And, of course, I tripped on my way back to my desk and nearly knocked all of some guy’s stuff off his desk.  
“Sorry,” I muttered, feeling myself redden.  
A girl sitting next to me, with light brown hair smiled kindly at me. She didn’t try and make me talk to her, which I appreciated. Until the end of class.  
“Hello,” she said, softly. “I’m Angela.”  
“Hello. I’m Beau.”  
“I hope I see you again, Beau.”  
I smiled, and hoped it was convincing. “Thanks.”  
I really didn’t have to introduce myself again like that for the rest of the morning. Lunch was a different story.  
Bella was already sitting at a table with several people, most of whom had vaguely familiar faces from the day. Angela, who was one of them, saw me looking and waved me over. The conversation seemed to be mostly the guys vying for Bella’s attention. I knew that would bother her, but it did mean I didn’t have to say much. Bella didn’t either. It was there, trying not to embarrass myself in front of seven strangers and my sister, that I first saw them.  
There were five of them sitting in the corner, at a table away from everyone else. They weren’t talking, or eating any of the food in front of them, or even looking at each other. They weren’t looking over at my table, either, as most of the school seemed to be doing to catch a glimpse of the new kids. None of that is what held my attention.  
None of them looked alike, and yet all of them did.  
There were two boys, and three girls. A muscly girl, with dark curls and an arm around the next girl, a golden-blonde girl. The last was pixie-like, extremely thin, and had black, short-cropped hair spiked out in every direction on her head. Then there were the boys; one was tall and fairly muscular, though not as much as the curly-haired girl, and had honey-blond hair. The other boy was lanky, less bulky, with messy, bronze hair that fell artfully across his forehead. He was clearly younger than the other boy, and possibly the girls. They all looked like they could be in college.  
And yet, they all shared a few key traits. Every one of them was chalky pale. Paler than Bella, even, or any of the other kids here than lived under constant cloud-cover. They all had the faintest dark circles under their eyes, just dark enough to distinguish from a regular shadow.  
But none of that was why I couldn’t look away. They were all inhumanly, astonishingly beautiful. A kind of beauty that made my stomach jump to my throat.  
They didn’t seem real. They seemed to be illustrations; illusions pulled from art into an underwhelmingly ordinary world. It was hard to decide who the most beautiful was- maybe the blonde girl or the bronze-haired boy. The small, pixie-girl rose as I watched them. She took her tray, still with uneaten food on it, walking as though she were dancing to dump her tray. She turned, and it seemed almost reasonable that she was dancing, like she was made to do it- but she was just turning to leave. Every move resembled a ballerina at their peak.  
“Who are they?” Bella asked. I was glad I didn’t have to.  
The girl next to her- Jessica, I think- looked up, and giggled. A second later, the bronze-haired boy glanced at her, and then at Bella, as if he heard his name called. And then to me. He dropped his eyes quickly, more quickly than I could, though in my embarrassment, I dropped my plastic fork on the ground.  
Jessica giggled, and blushed harder and I bent to pick it up, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was still looking conspiratorially at Bella.  
“That’s Edward and Elanor Cullen, and Jasper and Rosalie Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and her husband.”  
I glanced sideways at the beautiful boy who had looked at me. He was picking a bagel apart methodically. His mouth was moving, very quickly, his perfect lips barely opening. He seemed to be talking, though no one at his table was looking at him.  
“They are… very nice-looking,” Bella managed. I peeked again. He had stopped picking apart the bagel. Jessica explained their adoption, how they were all together, all except Edward, and that they had moved to Forks recently. A boy next to me with glasses nudged me with his elbow, making me jump.  
“Sorry, man,” the guy laughed. “Just saw you staring over at Elanor and Rosalie.”  
“Oh, uh, yeah.” I lied. Forks was a small town.  
“Don’t bother. They’re together. Like, together together.”  
“Oh,” I knew I didn’t sound that disappointed.  
Jessica snorted in disgust at glasses guy as I asked, “which one is which?”  
“The blonds are Jasper and Rosalie, and the other two are Elanor and Edward.”  
Jessica made a sour face. “The only single one is Edward, though, and it seems no one here is good enough for him. Don’t waste your time.”  
Bella caught my eye. Her mouth twitched, and I had to press my lips together. It wasn’t a nice thing to laugh at. Bella bit her lip and returned to her conversation from before.  
I looked over again, but this time he was looking right at me, as though expecting something, slightly frustrated. I turned away again, positive I was blushing.  
After a few more minutes, the four of them got up to leave together, and they were all noticeably graceful, even the muscled one.  
Angela, Bella, a boy named Mike, and I all had biology together right after lunch. We walked together in silence, mostly, except for Mike, who had grabbed Bella’s books. I walked in behind them, which was a mistake. Angela went to what must have been her regular seat, and Mike put Bella’s things and his own on a separate table. It left only one seat open; right next to Edward Cullen. I froze, the slip still in my hand for the teacher to sign.  
The teacher didn’t seem to mind, though I was telepathically begging him to make Mike go back and sit in his old seat. Bella and I walked up to get our slips signed, and I glanced, resigned, over to the empty chair and Edward Cullen, who was looking out the window. Bella looked just as hesitant to sit next to Mike. We would have to come early tomorrow and sit together.  
Just as I passed my seat as I headed to the front, Edward Cullen went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face- it was hostile, furious. I looked away in shock, and stumbled over the corner of the desk in front of me, of course. A girl giggled, and I went red as Bella caught my arm to help me.  
“Thanks,” I managed.  
There was no nonsense about introducing ourselves to the class, but before I could figure out a way to get someone to move, Bella was on her way back to Mike’s table, and I had no choice but to sit next to Cullen or say something.  
I kept my eyes down as I walked over, focusing on not tripping and not looking at him.  
He must have seen me staring at him at lunch and not appreciated it very much. This was a small town, after all. Maybe he would get the muscle girl to beat me up. Wouldn’t that be perfect. Just what I needed.  
As I sat down, I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. I flinched, but he was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelt something bad. I sat as far away from him as I could, and tried to pay attention to the teacher. I took notes, though not very good ones. I had a tendency to daydream and doodle during class, though I maintained a solid B average. Mostly thanks to gym and English.  
Instead of daydreaming though, I was peeking as inconspicuously as I could over at the strange boy next to me. He never relaxed, one time. He must’ve been stronger than he looked. His fists were curled up with tension under the desk, which also never relaxed.  
The class dragged on. It must have been at least three times as long as any of my other cases, and my stomach kept twisting up as I thought of how to get out of there, and then out of school, without running into him.  
Maybe Jessica was not as resentful as I had thought. Maybe he acted like this all the time. I sneaked another look at him, but immediately regretted it. He was staring at me again, his angelic face twisted in fury.  
But just then, the bell rang. I jumped, and he was up out of his seat and out the door before anyone else could stand up. Bella gave me a look, and I shrugged. I could explain later, away from all the prying ears. Well, at least explain what happened. Not why.  
I blinked rapidly. I would not cry, not in public. No way. Gym was next, and I had that with Bella, though unfortunately Mike had gym next, too.  
Bella looked at me again, and I really smiled this time. My nightmare class was over- hers was beginning.  
Bella-------------  
Gym was about what I had expected- and feared. Probably as revenge for abandoning him in biology- however unintentional- Beau left me as a partner with Mike for volleyball. Mike was chivalrous, and very good, winning four out of the five games with me as a handicap. The one he lost was to Beau, who capitalized on what he knew was the weak link-me.  
After that ordeal was over, I waited for Beau outside the locker rooms. The group who had sat with me at lunch had gathered around Mike, and by extension, me.  
“Would you like to go, Bella?” Mike asked me.  
“Where?” I drew my eyebrows together. I had not been listening.  
“To the beach, La Push,” he said, hopefully.  
“When?”  
“A few weeks, when the weather clears up.”  
“You could invite Beau, too,” said Angela.  
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” added Jessica, though she was looking at Mike, who was in turn looking at me.  
“Sounds fun,” I replied. “I’ll have to check with my dad, though.”  
Mike and Angela smiled. Jessica did too, though it looked almost pained. I decided to scan the locker exits for Beau. Did he get lost in there? I bit my lip. Maybe he had tripped and fallen.  
Right when I was about to ask Mike to go look for him, though, he walked slowly out of the locker room, adjusting his backpack and looking at his sneakers.  
“I’ll see you later,” I muttered, meeting him by the door.  
“Bye, Bella!” several voices rang out. A few added “Bye, Beau,” and Beau smiled and waved shyly.  
“Overall, I think that went well,” I said.  
Beau snorted. “Did you see the guy next to me in biology class?”  
I frowned. “Yeah, sorry about that. I’ll sit next to you tomorrow.” I hadn’t known how to change seats without causing a scene. And neither of us wanted that.  
We walked to the front office, which was closer than the truck, anyway. The same woman was now talking to Edward Cullen, bent over the desk.  
He was speaking quietly, but I quickly picked up the gist of the conversation. And from the tightness in Beau’s eyes, he did, too.  
He was trying to change sixth period biology for another time- any other time. I cleared my throat loudly and he froze, and then straightened up.  
“Never mind, then,” he said. “I can see it’s impossible. Thank you so much for your help.” He turned stiffly and walked out, taking a longer route on my left side to avoid Beau.  
We handed our slips in, and I felt anger start to sting at my eyes.  
“How did your first day go, dears?” the woman asked.  
“Fine,” I said, my voice weak. Beau nodded in equally false agreement.  
When we got back to the truck, it was almost the last left in the lot. Beau and I didn’t speak on the way home. We were both on the edge of tears. His in shame, mine in anger. I would have to talk to Edward Cullen tomorrow. I had to be brave, for my brother.


	2. Scary Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's go to the Beach.

Bella----------  
EDWARD CULLEN DID NOT SHOW HIS FACE AT SCHOOL the next day, or the next week. He eventually moved to the back of my mind, and I took his old seat in biology. I got angry again every time I saw Beau looking around the cafeteria, or hesitating walking into sixth period.  
But, after a week or so Beau stopped looking, and had agreed to go to the beach with us to La Push. We left on a Saturday morning.  
It was foggy, but blessedly not raining. There was a bonfire, and lots of food, and Beau managed to keep most of the unwanted attention from Mike diverted by throwing around a football. I smiled. He was starting to make friends.  
A few girls, Lauren and another girl I had forgotten the name of were chatting away under their breath beside me. I hadn’t been paying much attention to them, until I heard my name.  
I listened more closely, and my eyes were stinging again.  
“… he doesn’t even look at Angela, or anyone else. Well, any other girl. He was sure staring at Edward in biology.”  
“Edward looked mad, too. Hey, Stephanie, do you think Beau was hitting on him and he freaked out?”  
The girl apparently named Stephanie laughed. “I would freak out too, if a… a gay was hitting on me. That’s disgusting.”  
I didn’t know if they were speculating, or if they had found out; either way, I snatched my backpack up and stomped off, headed toward the game of catch.  
“Want to play?” Mike asked hopefully.  
I could hear one of the girls behind me scoff.  
“No thank you, I was actually thinking I would go on a hike before the sun gets too low or it starts to rain or something.” I tried to give Beau a significant look without Mike noticing, and failed.  
Mike enthusiastically misinterpreted my look, and nearly shouted “Sure!” He cleared his throat. “I’ll see if anyone else wants to come,” and he jogged over to a larger group of people.  
“What is it?” Beau asked.  
“Well, firstly, everything is fine,” I started, and Beau gave me a dark look.  
I explained what I had heard. He stared into the distance for a while, remaining remarkably calm, and finally speaking.  
“I guess Angela has a crush on me.”  
“I’m sorry,” I said.  
He shook his head. “You have nothing to be- “  
“But I am.”  
“You don’t have to-“  
“Well, I’m going to.”  
“Bella,” he said, exasperated. “Please let me finish.”  
I waited. He gave a long pause, taking a deep breath.  
“Bells, you don’t have to stand up for me all the time.” He held his hand up before I could say anything else. “And you can’t control what other people say, or do. And neither can I.”  
“But I can help,” I said, crossing my arms.  
“Just being my stubborn sister is really all you can do,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “The rest is more or less a waste of energy.”  
“Regardless,” I said, “It makes me feel better.”  
He chuckled, and we began walking over to the hiking group. Mostly they were people I didn’t know, but I was quickly surrounded by chatter. Mike was on one side of me, an overly-helpful boy with glasses named Eric on the other. I looked around for Beau as we walked. I saw him some time later, walking behind the group, speaking quietly with Angela. I grimaced in sympathy.  
I let my mind wander, escaping the boys. I searched for tide pools, for starfish and crabs. They were stuck, as I was, away from their real home, in a place so small that by comparison they might as well be nowhere. I wondered at the number, and then again at the trees, so close to the ocean, weathering the rocky earth and the salty spray of the ocean. Angela and Beau caught up eventually. The rest of the group had turned around, and we made to follow them. It seemed like their conversation had ended, but neither seemed upset.  
“Hi, Angela,” I said awkwardly, much too late for a greeting. She smiled, understanding.  
“Hello, Bella. How are you?”  
I laughed. “I’m fine. How are you?”  
“Good,” she smiled, and seemed to mean it.  
“I told her,” Beau said, glancing at me as my eyebrows shot up. “What? Angela’s nice.”  
“Thank you,” she said. “You’re nice too, I think.”  
I was not unhappy that Beau had made a real friend before I had- I was ecstatic, actually- but I was a bit surprised. And I felt guilty at my surprise.  
“I think we’re all very nice and also that we should head back a bit quicker,” I said, looking up. The sun had moved much further than I had thought.  
We talked and laughed, and Beau only fell once. I stumbled a few times, myself. He had scraped his hand, but not too badly.  
“Keep your hands-“  
“In my pockets, yes, I know,” he said. He turned to Angela. “She gets woozy around blood.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “That must be difficult.”  
“I’m fine,” I said.  
“Hey, I’m going to Port Angeles in a few days to get some shopping done,” she said. “Would you two like to join me? The mall has a bookstore.”  
“Sure,” I said. I could use a few new books. I knew Beau wouldn’t mind some books, either. There might even be a sports store there, he could gaze at baseballs, or whatever it was he did in there.  
“Sure,” Beau said. “Do they have a sporting goods store?”  
I laughed, and we made our way back, in unusually high spirits. I may have made a friend, as well.  
When we got back a bonfire was already roaring, and the crowd had grown bigger while we were gone; some La Push boys had joined the party.  
The food was already being handed out, and I went to grab some as Mike came jogging over.  
“Hey, Bella, ever seen a driftwood fire?” One of the La Push kids looked up at us.  
“No,” I admitted.  
“Then you’ll love this,” he said, taking a piece of driftwood and placing it on the fire.  
“It’s blue,” I said, surprised.  
“It’s the salt,” a new voice said.  
I turned, and it was the kid who had looked up. His skin was beautiful and russet-colored. He looked about my age, and had long, gleaming hair pulled into a ponytail with a rubber band around the base of his neck. His eyes were dark, set deep above the planes of his cheekbones. He was beautiful, though my opinion of his beauty was a bit tarnished after the first words he spoke.  
“You’re Isabella Swan, aren’t you?” He grinned.  
“Bella,” I said. This was like the first day of school all over again. But there was something infectious in his smile. Like the fog had cleared a bit, like the fire was burning a little brighter. I smiled back.  
“I’m Jacob Black,” he said, holding out his hand. “You bought my dad’s truck.”  
“Oh, you’re Billy’s son,” I said. “I probably should remember you. And I didn’t really buy the truck, Char- My dad did, as a gift.”  
“So how do you like it?” He gave off a dazzling smile again.  
“Like what?”  
“The truck,” he laughed, smiling wider. Something in the sound made me sure that he wasn’t laughing at me- he was laughing because he was happy, and because he could.  
“It runs great, I love it.”  
“Yeah, but it’s slow. I was glad when Charlie bought it, my dad wouldn’t let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right there.”  
“It’s not that slow,” I protested.  
“Have you tried going over sixty?”  
“No,” I admitted.  
“Good. Don’t.” He grinned.  
I couldn’t help grinning back. “It would do great in a collision, in my truck’s defense.”  
“I don’t think a tank could take out that monster,” he agreed with another laugh.  
“So, you build cars?” I asked, impressed.  
Mike cleared his throat. “I have a pretty good car, you know, a uh, an old Bronco.”  
I blinked at him. I had forgotten he was there. “I don’t speak Car and Driver, sorry.”  
Jake said “When I have the parts and the time,” as Mike slinked off, defeated, to try and get another game of catch going. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?” he added jokingly. He had a pleasant, husky voice.  
“Sorry,” I laughed. “Not lately, but I’ll keep my eyes open for you.” He was very easy to talk with.  
He flashed a brilliant smile, looking at me in a way that several boys had been looking at me for the past week or so. I didn’t mind as much, this time.  
“You know Bella, Jacob?” Stephanie asked- in what I imagined was a snide tone- from across the fire.  
“We’ve sort of known each other since we were babies,” he laughed, smiling at me again.  
“How nice.” She didn’t sound like she thought it was nice at all, and her pale, fishy eyes narrowed.  
“Bella,” she called again, “I was just saying to Eric how it was too bad Beau couldn’t ask his boyfriend to come.”  
Several people looked up.  
“He doesn’t-“  
“Did he not invite Edward?” she asked sarcastically. They seemed to be getting along so well.”  
“You mean Dr. Carine Cullen’s family?” a tall, older La Push boy asked before I could say something to Stephanie. I was sure it would have been devastating.  
He was a bit older, and his voice was deep.  
“You know them?” she asked condescendingly, turning halfway toward him while managing to keep her nose firmly in the air.  
“The Cullens don’t come here,” he said in a tone that closed the subject, ignoring her question.  
Everyone stared at him strangely for a moment, and I was secretly glad. Maybe they would think Stephanie was just being cruel; she was, in any case.  
I stared at the deep-voiced boy, taken aback, but he was looking away toward the dark forest behind us. He’d said that the Cullens didn’t come here, but his tone had implied something more- that they weren’t allowed. I felt a shiver.  
“So, Forks driving you crazy yet?” Jacob had interrupted my darkening thoughts.  
“Oh, I’d say that’s an understatement.”  
He nodded, in mock seriousness.  
I snickered.  
He smiled.  
“Do you want to walk down the beach with me?” I asked. Jacob jumped up almost immediately.  
We walked closer to the beach than I had before, nearly in the dark, salty water. The clouds finally closed ranks over the darkening sky. The temperature had dropped. I shoved my hands deep into my jacket pockets, admiring the sea.  
“So, you’re what, seventeen?” I asked, trying not to look like an idiot. I had to take two steps to every one he was taking, but he was keeping pace with me.  
“I just turned sixteen,” he admitted, flattered.  
“Really? I would have thought you were older.” Obviously, Bella. I thought. You just said that.  
“I’m tall for my age,” he explained.  
“Do you come up to Forks much?” I asked, trying to sound casual. I sounded idiotic. I was afraid he would laugh at me, but he still seemed happy to talk.  
“Not too much,” he admitted with a frown. “But when I get my car finished I can go up as much as I want,” he added quickly. I smiled to myself.  
“Who was that other boy Stephanie was talking to? He seemed a little old to be hanging out with us.”  
“That’s Sam- he’s nineteen.”  
“What was he saying about the doctor’s family?” I asked, frowning.  
“The Cullens? Oh, they’re not supposed to come here.” He looked away, out toward an island, distant in the sea.  
“I can’t say I blame him- Sam, I mean.”  
He looked up at me, surprised. “What makes you say that?”  
“One of them has got a problem with Beau- my twin-“  
“I remember Beau, Bella,” he said and laughed. “Or at least I remember that he exists.”  
I laughed along with him.  
“Just some weird bullying, I’m sure,” and I didn’t feel like laughing anymore. I knew Beau could get hurt. People have wanted to hurt him before. And as shy as he was, he would never ask someone to fight his battles for him. He would just go ahead and get hurt rather than ask for help. It was exhausting.  
“I’m not really supposed to say anything.”  
“Oh,” I said, surprised. “You know, that just makes me more curious.”  
He laughed, a bit of a nervous edge to it this time, and then raised an eyebrow at me.  
“Do you like scary stories?” He asked.  
“I love them,” I said. I did not love them. I wanted to talk to Jacob more- and I wanted to help Beau. Maybe if I had some dirt on the Cullens, Edward would leave him alone.  
Jacob walked over to a large driftwood tree that had its roots sticking out like the legs of an enormous, dead spider. Coupled with the now mostly-set sun, the silhouette was starting to spook me, just a little. He stared down at the rocks, smiling just a little, ruining the effect.  
“Do you know any of the old stories about where we come from? The Quileutes, I mean,” he began, his voice low and even. He spoke as if from a script, a story he had heard over and over again.  
“Not really.”  
“There are many a lot of stories, though most of them have been lost or reinterpreted by people outside the tribe. But there’s one legend that supposedly happened in the thirties.” He paused, looking at me expectantly. “Like, the nineteen-thirties.”  
I raised my eyebrows. “Would that be a legend? Wouldn’t your great-grandparents have been there for that? Even if they were really young?”  
“It would be, if it weren’t so supernatural.”  
He smiled to show me how much stock he put in the legend, but I found myself leaning closer. I had spent a good portion of my life reading, finding stories. I wanted to hear it.  
“This story is about the cold ones.” His voice dropped a little lower. “Apparently, my great-grandfather did know some of them. He was the one who made the treaty to keep them- the Cullens- off our land.” He rolled his eyes.  
I blinked. “Your great grandfather? I thought the Cullens just moved here a few years ago.”  
“My great-grandfather was a tribal elder,” Jacob said. “And the word you would use for cold ones is vampire.” I bit my lip, letting him tell the story.  
“Apparently, there was a fight going on. A fight between the cold ones and a monster. Well, a different kind of monster,” he smirked. “Anyway, this thing had the ability to shapeshift into an animal. A wolf, to be exact.”  
I bit my lip a little harder, trying not to laugh at his story. “A wolf? Like a werewolf?”  
He did frown at this. “Another legend claims that we descended from wolves- and that a wandering Transformer turned wolves into a man and a woman, and that was the beginning of the tribe. It’s against tribal law to kill them.”  
“Sorry,” I said quickly.  
“But,” he continued, “The fight came over to our lands, and the wolf creature attacked a few of our people. And those people were cursed.”  
This was sounding a lot like lycanthropy, but I had already accidentally insulted Quileute legends. I waited, a little impatiently.  
“This wasn’t a werewolf,” he said defensively, as if reading my mind. “Or maybe it was. But the curse wasn’t to turn people into werewolves.”  
“It was like a twisted version of the legends of Transformers,” he whispered. I vaguely remembered Billy Black telling something about the Transformers to Beau, Jacob, and I when we were much younger, but I would have to ask Beau for the details later, or visit the tribe center and brush up.  
“Instead of the ability to transform animals into different life forms, the people themselves transformed into nightmare versions of animals. And not just wolves, different kinds of animals.”  
“And they were strong. Almost out-of-control. We had never had the ability to defend ourselves so well against the cold ones, but the shapeshifters had cursed lives.”  
After a pause, he continued. “The cold ones had driven the monster toward us- maybe they didn’t know we were there, maybe they didn’t care. But there were other, older stories about cold ones. So, you see, the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather’s time was different. They didn’t hunt the way others of their kind did. They weren’t supposed to be dangerous to our tribe. So, my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn’t get vengeance with the shape-shifters we had or expose them to the pale-faces.” He winked at me.  
I hoped the darkening air would hide what I was sure was a blush rising on my face.  
“What does any of that have to do with the Cullens?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t notice how enraptured in his storytelling I had become. “Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?”  
“No,” he said, frowning a little. “They’re supposed to be the same ones.”  
I didn’t feel an urge to laugh this time- this was a scary story.  
“There are more now,” he said. “Two more. But the leader, the doctor, is supposed to have been here before even your people.” He nudged me, fighting a smile.  
“And they’re vampires?”  
He smiled darkly.  
“Blood drinkers, cold ones,” he replied in a chilling voice. “Your people call them vampires.”  
I was scared now, and he must have noticed. He could have told me they were killer bunnies, and on a night like tonight, with the huge, cold ocean behind him and the wind beginning to scream a dirge, I would have believed him.  
“You’ve got goosebumps,” he laughed delightedly.  
“You’re a good storyteller,” I said, still gazing at the waves.  
“Pretty crazy stuff though, isn’t it? No wonder my dad doesn’t want us to talk about it anymore.”  
“Don’t worry,” I smiled. “I won’t give you away.”  
“I guess I just violated the treaty,” he laughed.  
“I’ll take it to the grave,” I teased, standing. It was getting late, and I was getting cold.  
“Seriously, though, don’t say anything to Charlie,” Jacob said, rising to follow me. “He was pretty mad when he heard that some of us wouldn’t go to the hospital after Dr. Cullen started working there.”  
“I won’t.”  
“Or Beau, if you think he’ll say anything to your dad.”  
“Hi, Bella!” Mike, trailed by Jessica, was about fifty feet away, walking towards us.  
“Is that your boyfriend?” Jacob asked.  
“Definitely not,” I said quietly, and perhaps too quickly. I smiled at him, and turned to walk toward the others.  
“So, when I get the new car together…”  
“You should come see me in Forks,” I said. “We could hang out sometime.”  
Mike had reached me now, with Jessica still a few paces back.  
“Where have you been?” he asked, though the answer was right in front of him.  
“Jacob was just telling me some of the local stories. They’re really interesting.”  
I smiled at Jacob warmly, and he grinned back.  
“Well,” Mike said, his eyes darting around, assessing. “We’re packing up- it’s probably going to rain soon.”  
We all looked up. It did look like rain.  
“Okay, alright,” I said. “I’m coming.”  
“It’s nice seeing you again,” Jacob said, and waved.  
“It really was. Next time Charlie comes down to see Billy, I’ll come too,” I promised.  
We grinned at each other.  
“That would be cool,” he said, clearing his throat.  
I pulled my hood up as we tramped across the rocks toward the parking lot. A few drops began to fall, making black spots on the pavement where they landed.  
I spotted Beau, and followed him into the backseat of Mike’s car with Angela. Beau was asleep within minutes, his head flung back. I closed my eyes to do the same, but I kept picturing white, even teeth behind an easy grin. I found myself smiling even as the rain began to pound on the car.

Beau----------  
Edward Cullen didn’t come back to school. Every day, I watched anxiously until the rest of the Cullens entered the cafeteria without him. Then I could relax and join the lunchtime conversation. Maybe I wasn’t as shy as I had thought- although, Bella being there certainly helped. And Angela, too.  
The talk on the beach was a difficult one, though Angela had made it much better.  
“Angela, I think you’re very nice,” I began, my eyes locked on my feet as they crunched the ground.  
“Thank you.”  
The air was salty, and a slight, pleasant smell of bonfire masked the not entirely unpleasant odor of brine and sea rot.  
I didn’t know what to say next. I slowed, thinking.  
“You don’t have to explain,” Angela said, quietly.  
My head snapped up. She had a small, sad smile.  
“I want to,” I said lamely. “Like I said, you’re nice.”  
She smiled again. We walked in silence for a while. Angela was very nice. She didn’t need to fill empty space with talk, and she certainly didn’t pry.  
“I’m gay,” I just said, almost a whisper. Enough time had passed that I thought she may have been thinking about something else.  
“That explains it,” she said, also very quiet. “Why else would you pass up a supermodel like me?” And then she laughed, and I really loved her then.  
I smiled. “You are very pretty,” I said, unsure of how to continue, and she laughed even harder. I joined in, and since then we had become fast friends.  
After that trip, I was perfectly comfortable walking into biology class, knowing wherever Mike sat, Bella and I would just take the other table. He had been getting pretty inventive trying to sit with Bella, but so far had been unsuccessful.  
By the next Monday, people waved at us in the parking lot as we pulled up. I didn’t know all their names, but I was beginning to recognize faces. We waved back at everyone and I smiled, happy it wasn’t raining for once, though it was a bit colder than usual. I even managed to answer Madame Valentine’s surprise oral quiz en francais.  
All in all, I was batting close to a thousand. I had started considering asking some people if they would be interested in some pickup games. I was getting rusty. My spirits were high as I left for lunch.  
The air was full of swirling bits of white. People were chattering excitedly to each other. The wind bit at my face. It was snowing.  
I stepped tentatively through the crunchy wetness. It had a particular smell. I thought it would smell more like winter mint gum, but it smelled like something entirely new. Not as sharp, and not minty at all. Like a glass of ice water, when the ice cracks.  
I was trying to describe it when something hard and cold hit the back of my head. I stopped, my mouth falling open a bit. I felt tiny icy rivers slide down my neck and down my back, dampening my shirt under my jacket. I quickly dusted the rest of the snow off.  
“Beau!” yelled a voice behind me. I turned too quickly, and fell just as another snowball sailed over my head.  
Mike had thrown it, laughing as he came to help me up. Bella was behind him, picking her way carefully. Her nose remained scrunched, obviously not enjoying the winter wonderland. I wasn’t enjoying it too much either.  
I thought about taking Mike down with me as he tried to help me up, but thought better of it. I put my arms out a bit for balance and began to follow Bella inside.  
“Sorry, man,” he said, hands up. “Bella already yelled at me, so truce?”  
“Sure,” I said, but he had already turned, a snowball in his hand and eyes narrowed in on Eric.  
We met Angela in the food line and she helped me dust off some of the remaining snow. I grabbed a soda and glanced over at the corner table, out of habit. And then I froze. There were five people at the table.  
“Beau?” Bella said, following my line of sight before I could look away. My ears were hot. I headed for the pay line, skipping the food.  
“Get something to eat,” Bella said, following me.  
“I’m not hungry.”  
“I will go over there and talk to them myself,” she replied, turning.  
“No!” I knew I was too loud as I grabbed her arm. I reddened, and said more quietly “Please, don’t.”  
Her eyes narrowed at me, but she acquiesced as I grabbed a slice of pizza and an apple.  
I sipped my soda slowly at the table, and took a large bite of pizza whenever Bella looked over at me. My stomach was turning in no time. I looked over through my eyelashes at the table. None of them were looking this way. They were all laughing. All but Alice had their hair covered in melting snow, and she leaned away as Emma tried to shake some from her head off onto her. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like us- only they all looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us.  
But, aside from the laughter, there was something different I couldn’t pin down. They were less pale, maybe. Flushed from the snowball fight, or perhaps the pale skin didn’t stand out as much next to the snow. I examined Edward the most carefully. He certainly didn’t seem furious, now.  
“Beau, what are you staring at?” Eric asked, his eyes following mine.  
At that precise moment, Edward Cullen’s eyes flashed over to meet mine.  
I dropped my head, hoping the hunched-up hood of my jacket would cover a lot of my face. I was positive though that he hadn’t looked angry at me, just curious, slightly unsatisfied, like the first time in the cafeteria.  
“Why is Edward Cullen staring at you?” Eric continued. Bella’s head whipped around.  
“Please,” I said. “It’s not worth it. And I know you don’t want to go over there in front of all these people.”  
She remained seated, but continued glaring over at them.  
“He doesn’t look angry, does he?”  
“No,” Bella responded. “But why should he be? We haven’t said one word to him.”  
“Well, stop looking at him,” I poked her.  
“You’re the one who wanted to know if he looked mad.”  
“You should have seen him in biology on their first day,” Mike said, explaining to Eric and Jessica. “If looks could kill, Beau would be so dead.”  
“Is that why you didn’t want to sit with him anymore?” I asked, probably the most words I had spoken in a row in this cafeteria.  
“He neve looked at me like that,” Mike said. “What did you say to him?”  
“I never said anything.”  
“Hey, don’t worry about it man, worry about this dance,” Eric said.  
“What?” Bella and I said at the same time.  
“The dance?” Mike was looking at Bella, but Jessica was looking at him. “It’s a ladies’ choice dance,” Mike said, hopefully.  
“Oh,” Bella said, and continued eating. I held back a snicker.  
“Yeah,” Eric said, looking at me. “So, you thinking about asking anybody?”  
“Uh, well,” I scrambled. “Not really, since I just found out there was a dance. And I don’t know when it is. I might have made other plans.” I bit off a large chunk of pizza, hoping to dissuade further questions. I knew I would not be going to any dance.  
I looked at the table. Bella and I would sit next to each other during biology, so there was no reason not to go. Still, my stomach flipped, and I drank down more fizzy soda, hoping to quiet it down.  
Bella was reluctant to leave after lunch, until she saw it was raining. She deeply did not want to get hit with a snowball. I couldn’t blame her. I hustled her ahead of Mike, but he seemed to realize that Edward being back was his perfect opportunity to sit with Bella. He tried to keep a steady conversation with her as a distraction. He was failing miserably. I relaxed when I walked through the door, and saw all the empty tables, sure that Bella would brush him off.  
The class started to fill up. I went to sit at our now usual table in the back as Bella said something to Mike, but when I looked up, it was Edward sitting down at the seat next to mine.  
It seemed impossible. He wasn’t here a second ago. He must have been right behind us. I felt goosebumps rise at the thought.  
“Hello,” he said in a quiet, musical voice.  
I just stared at him, stunned.  
“You’re in my way,” Bella said to him from just behind.  
“Bella,” Mr. Banner said. “Please find your seat.”  
She blushed. She was not as shy as me, but she didn’t like being the center of attention any more than I did. She looked back at me, panicked.  
“It’s okay,” I said in a small voice, not nearly as reassuring as I had hoped.  
Edward sat in the seat next to mine, and I rose to go sit by Mike.  
“Miss Swan, sit down,” Mr. Banner said, and she quickly sat near Mike.  
“Sorry,” she mouthed.  
“It’s okay,” I mouthed back, as Mr. Banner started droning on.  
Edward had moved his seat as far away from me as he could, though it was angled toward me. His hair was dripping wet and disheveled. Even so, he still looked like he had just finished shooting a commercial for hair gel. His face was friendly, open. He wore a slight smile. I immediately had a hard time reconciling this face with the last time I had seen him. He was dazzling.  
“My name is Edward Cullen,” he said. “I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself. You must be Beau Swan.”  
“Hello,” I said, my head swimming. I looked down at the table and pulled out my notebook.  
“I am sorry I took your sister’s seat.” He said.  
I looked at him, stunned. I had no idea what to say. “Oh. That’s okay,” I said.  
I glanced over at her. She was more or less staring at Edward, confused.  
Mr. Banner started handing out some lab materials. The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis and label them. We weren’t supposed to use our books. He gave us twenty minutes.  
“Get started,” Mr. Banner commanded.  
“You first, partner?” Edward asked.  
I looked up to see him smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that I could only blink.  
“Or I could start, if you wish.”  
I shrugged, and he glanced through the microscope.  
After the briefest moment, he announced “Prophase,” and slid it over for me to check.  
I looked. Sure. Prophase. I had no idea. I had done this lab before, but I hadn’t retained any of it. I didn’t have the grades Bella did.  
He handed me the next slide, and his fingers brushed mine. They were icy, like they hadn’t warmed up at all after his snowball fight, but that’s not why I jerked my hand away. I felt a buzz, like an electric current between our fingers, and I managed to drop the slide.  
I moved to try and catch it, but Edward was already holding it delicately by the edges.  
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, placing the slide into the microscope. I glanced at it, for much longer than he had.  
“Anaphase?” I asked. I couldn’t really tell. It all looked much the same to me.  
“Do you mind if I look?” he asked.  
I shook my head, keeping my hands out of his way as he slid the microscope over and once again took the briefest of looks.  
“Anaphase.”  
We finished quickly, mostly due to Edward. Which left me nothing left but to try and not look at him. Unsuccessfully. I peeked over, and suddenly realized what had been different about his eyes.  
“Did you get contacts?” I blurted out.  
He seemed shocked by my question. Or perhaps that I was speaking at all.  
“No,” he said quickly, and then frowned.  
“Oh,” I said lamely.  
If there was anything I had remembered about Edward Cullen, it was his black, angry eyes, striking against his pale face. His eyes now were a light green. Unusual, but a completely normal eye color I had seen before. They looked much, much better on him. Maybe he was lying about the contacts. He could be embarrassed about it, or maybe I had just imagined his eyes, so filled with hatred- black, nearly the same as his pupils- like something out of a horror movie.  
I looked down. His fists were clenched again, and the frown hadn’t left his face. The less I said, I decided, the better.  
Mr. Banner was at Bella’s table. They had finished, as well.  
“Have you done this lab before?” he asked.  
“Not with onion root,” Bella admitted.  
Mr. Banner looked over to my table. He shook his head and said something else too low for me to hear as he continued on to the next table.  
“It’s too bad about the snow, isn’t it?” Edward asked. He must have felt bad for our first class together, because he didn’t sound like he really wanted to be talking to me.  
“I guess,” I said. And then I felt bad for ignoring him so much when he was clearly trying to be so nice. “I’ve never actually seen it before. But I don’t like the cold very much. Or the wet.”  
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Forks must be a difficult place for you to live.”  
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to sound more positive. “I like it here.” Surprisingly, I did. I was making friends. I hadn’t been outed. “There’s no baseball team, but nowhere is perfect.”  
“Do you play baseball?” he smiled. He must have seen me trip over myself earlier today.  
“I did, before Bella and I came here.”  
“Chief Swan has lived here your whole life, right?” he asked, much more interested than he was in snow.  
“Yes.”  
“I’m curious,” he began. “Why have you come back now, halfway through the first semester of junior year?”  
“It’s complicated,” I replied. People had been asking me questions, sure. But no one had asked why we had come. It must have seemed obvious to all the people who had grown up here that people would want to live here. But Edward had come just a few years before me, I remembered. He must know what it’s like.  
“I think I can keep up,” he said gently.  
I paused, but then made the mistake of looking into his eyes again. His green eyes held my rapt attention, and I spoke without thinking. “My mother got remarried.”  
“That doesn’t seem so complex,” he said. But then, much more warmly, “When did that happen?”  
“Last September,” I said. I hadn’t felt sad at all about the marriage, but a small voice in my head was telling me to act it up to get more empathy. I squashed it.  
“And he didn’t want children?” he asked, his voice still kind.  
“No, Bella and I get along great with Phil. He’s actually a minor league baseball player. I had a great time with him.”  
“Then why…” he struggled to find a polite way to finish the sentence.  
I couldn’t fathom his interest, but I had never spoken so easily with someone before. Especially not someone who previously looked like they wanted me to die, painfully.  
“Phil travels a lot, because of the baseball. And he’s good, but he’s not exactly signed to a team long-term.”  
“So, your mother sent you away,” he said, not a question this time.  
I shook my head. “You’re terrible at guessing.”  
He blinked, and cracked the smallest smile. I found myself smiling back at him.  
“You have no idea,” he said, the same look of curiosity with a hint of frustration creeping onto his face.  
“Mom was unhappy, Phil was unhappy, Charlie was unhappy.” I didn’t feel the need to mention I was unhappy in Phoenix. “I decided to come here, and Bella followed me.”  
He glanced over to her, and I did the same. She was giving me an incredulous look, but turned around quickly.  
I blushed, and looked back at the desk.  
“So that’s all,” I said.  
“Are you happy?” he asked.  
“What?” I asked. I had not expected that. If this had been any other boy in this school, I would have been mocked several times over by now, and probably called a couple casual slurs.  
Edward wasn’t joking, though. He waited, looking genuinely curious.  
“Sure,” I said, after a while. “I guess. I wasn’t exactly Mr. Congeniality in Phoenix.”  
He opened his mouth to reply, but snapped it shut, seeming to think better of his response. And then he started laughing quietly, as I should have known he eventually would.  
“Why do you care?” I asked, defensive, and scowled at the blackboard.  
“Am I annoying you?”  
“No.”  
“You’re difficult to read, Beau.”  
“Oh?” I looked over, surprised. “I think I just told you my life story, pretty open and shut.”  
He snorted. “Hardly.”  
“Are you a good reader, then?”  
He smirked. “Usually.”  
Mr. Banner called the class to order, and I pulled my eyes away. I couldn’t hear a word he said. I’d said more to Edward in five minutes than I had to most people all month, a boy who may or may not despise me. He’d seemed interested in the conversation, but now he was back to leaning away from me, his hands balled up with unmistakable tension on the table.  
Mr. Banner went over the lab on a projector at the front of the class, and I tried to take notes, but just ended up doodling the entire time. Much like grades, I didn’t have Bella’s artistic streak, either. I just drew spirals, hoping I looked concentrated on notes, and felt Edward’s presence next to me like the current I had felt earlier was flowing around in the air.  
When the bell finally rang, Edward ran as quickly and as gracefully from the room as he had the last time. I stared after him in amazement. Though, this time, not with tears threatening to escape my eyes.  
A book was dropped on the table in front of me, and I jumped.  
“What was that?” Bella asked incredulously.  
“I have no idea,” I said weakly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the werewolves are not werewolves here. I tried doing as much research as possible and made the events with the Cullens entirely separate from actual Quileute legends. What is going to happen instead? I guess you will just have to read on.


	3. Minivans and Motorcycles

Beau----------  
WHEN I OPENED MY EYES THE NEXT MORNING, SOMETHING was different. I rolled over, my sweatshirt twisting around me. My drafty room was just cold enough that I did not want to get out from under my quilt, but the light coming through my windows was much too bright. 

I got up, groaning at the cold, and peered out. A layer of pure white covered the ground, and the trees all the way at the back of our small yard. It was beautiful, but I could already feel the hard, cold ground just waiting for me to slip and meet it. It was not just warmer in bed; it was safer.

I changed quickly, getting into the warmest clothes I had. My green sweater had a few holes in it, but I pulled it over a white t-shirt and ran out to brush my teeth as quickly as I could. 

I was excited for school. I knew it wasn’t to see Angela or, god forbid, learn anything, but to talk to Edward Cullen again. And that was very stupid. 

I hadn’t just left Phoenix to make everyone happy. Bella might have, but I had ulterior motives. I had been stupid in Phoenix, too.

I hadn’t tried to ask out a boy, or even kiss one. There was nobody I was interested in. I had just told one of my friends- well, someone I had considered a friend- that I was gay.

Before I knew it, I was friendless, and off the baseball team. I hadn’t told Bella, or mom. I didn’t know how. They knew I was gay; mom had the talk with us years ago, and made it clear that she didn’t care who we loved or who we were, she loved us anyway. I hadn’t known to be ashamed yet, so we had the conversation right there. I’m glad it worked out that way. It meant I’d never have to talk about it again, if I didn’t want to.

I threw down a quick breakfast as Bella made her way downstairs. The chief was already gone, having left for work. Bella ate some cereal, and drank some orange juice straight out of the carton.

“Ew.” I scrunched my nose. Bella took another big gulp, and I rolled my eyes.

I knew it was too early to leave, so I stared into space as she ate. 

Why would Edward lie to me about his eyes? And why the sudden change from hostile to so inquisitive? I was still afraid of him, afraid of his eyes. But the hate-filled black of his eyes had been a fantasy; his green eyes haunted me in a different way. But even that was a fantasy, and I pinched my wrist, hoping to wake up.

The trip from the door to the truck was arduous. The melted snow from the day before had refrozen into ice. I managed, with concentration, to only slip once. I caught myself on the edge of the truck bed, however, and was somehow in the car before Bella.

I turned, wondering if she had fallen, but she was near the back of the truck, looking at the wheels. Great. If we had to walk to school today, I might just stay home. But after a moment, Bella got into the driver’s side with a strange look on her face.

“See for yourself, at school,” she said before I could ask. 

We hadn’t discussed who got to drive, and reasonably it should be my turn. But Bella was a better driver-not that I’d ever tell her that- and I didn’t feel like getting into a horrible car accident today.

“It’s pretty, when it’s not in my socks,” Bella said over the roar of the engine. 

“It looks different than on TV,” I responded.

Bella drove slowly, but still much more in control than I had imagined on the ice. Maybe I hadn’t been giving her enough credit.

When I got out of the truck at school, I clung to the side of the truck as inconspicuously as I could to see the back tires. Bella smirked at me from the front of the truck. I stuck my tongue out and looked down before she could really make fun of me. 

Thin chains crossed in a diamond pattern. Charlie must have gotten up who knows how early, and it must have taken a while. I thought back to the pictures on the mantle, and of the new rooms he had added. It can’t have been easy, or cheap.   
I heard it before I saw it. Tires squealing and a gasp from Bella. I turned, a second before I would be crushed, to see a dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and spinning wildly across the ice. It was going to hit exactly where I was standing, and I didn’t have time to close my eyes.

Then, something hit me hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and the immediate pain from it was almost a relief. I had expected much, much worse pain. Something solid and cold was pinning me to the ground. I thought it was the van, but it couldn’t have been; the van swerved again, once more coming directly at me. 

“Fuck,” a low voice said. Fuck indeed. My head really did hurt, though the adrenaline was starting to push it further down on my list of concerns. Not least of all because the voice was impossible not to recognize.

Two long, white hands shot out in front of me. The van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, somehow deeply dented by his hands. Despite the cold and the blossoming pain, I felt something else, too. Like a current running through my body. 

It was absolute silence for one second before the screaming began.

I heard Bella call my name through the bedlam. I wanted to call back, to assure her I was alright, but I couldn’t find my voice. 

And then, Edward Cullen whispering, “Beau? Are you alright?”

I blinked up at him. His face was worried. I tried to sit up, my head still swimming, but I realized he had me pinned. 

“I’m fine,” I said finally, but that did not inspire him to let me up.

“Be careful,” he said, as I struggled. “You hit your head pretty hard.”

I was acutely aware of the throbbing slowly getting stronger, emanating from the back of my head. I nodded, and the sharp pain caused me to gasp.

“That’s what I thought,” he said darkly, and then was off of me, though I wasn’t jostled even a little. He sat on his heels between the van and the truck.

“Beau!” Bella said again, the first on the scene.

She gaped for a second, seeing Edward. I sat up.

“I’m fine, I think,” I said. I felt the back of my head for blood, but it came back dry. 

“He hit his head,” Edward said. 

Bella looked as if she struggled with something for a moment. “It’s lucky neither of you were hurt.” Her voice was genuinely grateful, but she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Edward when she said it. 

“Lucky I had been coming over to talk to Beau, and was able to pull him out of the way.”

Bella glared then, but seemed to think better of it quickly. “Thanks.”

And then it seemed everyone was there. 

“Don’t move,” someone instructed.

“Get Tyler out of the van!” someone else yelled. 

I tried to stand, but Bella and Edward both put out hands to stop me. I put up mine in defeat. With my luck, I would just slip and fall back down anyway.

I realized then what Bella must have realized before me. Edward had stopped the van with his hands. And I thought I must not have noticed him coming up from behind me, but I had only been out of the truck a moment. I would have seen him coming as I left the truck. And he had stopped a van with his hands.

EMTs started arriving. They were focused on the van, probably the driver.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“Do what?” he looked at me as if he had no idea what I could possibly be talking about.

“How did you stop the van?”

“I just pulled you out of the way,” he said, a look of concern on his face. “Are you sure you feel fine?”

I reached back up to touch my head. 

“Then how did you get there?” Bella said, coolly.

“I was walking up behind- “

“No, you weren’t,” Bella said. “I saw you. You were over by your car.” 

Edward had a blank look on his face, frozen. He seemed to be much more still than was possible, but the throbbing in my head was making it hard to focus. 

Several teachers and EMTs moved the van away, and then a blur of people. Bella yelled something I couldn’t quite make out, and then Bella was in the ambulance with me and we were on our way to the hospital.

Bella----------  
There were too many issues and not enough time. It was ridiculous that Edward Cullen might actually be a vampire, like Jacob said. But he had moved too fast to see, and he had stopped a van in its tracks.

That was another thing- vampire or not, I couldn’t get the sight of the hate-filled glare at Beau out of my head, and Edward had certainly done something inexplicable today. I needed to get Beau out of there, and Charlie too, and warn Jacob that he was right. 

At least about the danger, if not Dracula.

“Beau? How do you feel?”

“My head hurts, but honestly I’ve fallen and had worse.”

He had. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. 

Beau grimaced. “Did a lot of people see?”

I almost laughed. “The whole school. But don’t worry, you probably won’t have to go back today.”

I hoped we wouldn’t have to go back at all. Just before I saw the van, I had seen Edward, several cars away, staring in horror as it moved to crush Beau. And then, as if part of the horror story Jacob had told me, he was suddenly in front of the van before I even had time to scream.

I hadn’t stopped feeling cold. 

Edward had saved Beau. I kept circling back to it. And then, there was the issue of Dr. Cullen, at the hospital. Surely, she would protect her son. But from what? 

I couldn’t just accuse them of being vampires. Then I would be the one in the hospital, and then what? 

But why had he stopped the van? What did Beau see? 

It was maddening.

Charlie had arrived just after Beau was put on a stretcher, so I had let him know he was fine. Well, alive and awake anyway. And Edward Cullen had disappeared as soon as the EMTs were on the scene. 

If he thought he could avoid more questions, he was sorely mistaken.

I went with Beau to the long line of beds separated by curtains. Tyler Crowley was there, a boy from my government class, bloodstained bandages around his head. 

“Beau, Bella, I’m so sorry!”

“I wasn’t hurt,” I said. A nurse was busy attacking Beau with a blood pressure cuff and thermometer. He just waved his hand dismissively.

“I thought I was going to kill you! I was going too fast, I hit the ice wrong. I’m so sorry!” He winced, a different nurse dabbing his face with something on a q-tip. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Beau said, freed of the thermometer. “You look a lot worse than I feel, anyway.”

“How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone.”

“Edward pulled me out of the way,” he said. 

I wanted to say something, but I supposed that was true. And I didn’t want to end up getting my head checked, too. 

“Who?”

“Edward Cullen,” I said. “I hadn’t seen him, either.” 

“It was all so fast, I guess,” Tyler said. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” I said, curtly enough that the both looked at me strangely. “They didn’t make him use a stretcher,” I added quickly.

A new nurse came in, a younger woman, who started doing some sort of tests that involved Beau following her finger and a penlight with his eyes. 

I decided to step outside, ignoring Tyler as I went. And almost ran right into Edward Cullen.

“Excuse me,” he said.

Instead of moving, I backed up, filling the doorway.

“Explain,” I said. 

He eyed the door as if considering just forcing his way through, but made no move. “Explain what?” he asked politely.

“Explain how you got there so fast.” And why the Quileutes think you’re a vampire. 

He visibly flinched, but recovered quickly. “Did you hit your head as well? Perhaps I should call a nurse.”

“Why? I only asked how you got there so fast.”

He blinked. “You just look a little pale. If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to make sure Beau and Tyler are alright.”

“They’ll live. And I don’t think it’s wise to call anyone else pale. Stones, glass houses.”

And then, a young woman in a doctor’s coat came from behind Edward and stood beside him. She looked more like a movie star than a doctor. My mouth may have fell open for a moment before I snapped it shut.

“Edward, would you introduce me to your friend?”

“This is Isabella Swan, sister of Beau Swan.”

“Bella,” I said automatically.

“If you’ll excuse me, I must get by to check on your brother.”

“Edward and I were just walking to the lobby.” I hoped this sounded convincing, but I doubted it. 

She smiled warmly at me as I moved, watching Edward. He followed me.

We walked silently, until we rounded a corner.

“Why don’t you like me, Bella” he asked suddenly, his face suddenly the image of pain and hurt. 

“I, uh…” I gulped, focusing. He was very convincing- I had to remind myself that this was the same person from the first day in biology class. “You started this.”

He winced. “Do you mean that first day at school?”

I nodded.

“I’m so very sorry. I had hoped to make up for it somehow.”

“Why did you do it? What made you so mad?” I tried to be demanding, but I knew my voice was shaking.

“I was mistaken. I thought he was someone else.”

Unlikely, in a town this small. But then why had he relented, and been so nice yesterday? And why the heroics today?

The word “vampire” was getting sillier and sillier as I thought about it.

“I don’t know why you thought I was somewhere else today. I was coming to apologize to Beau for my behavior. And then, with all the adrenaline, I don’t know exactly what happened next myself.” He blinked his wide, green eyes, and offered a small smile. “I   
should have apologized to you, as well. I’m sorry I made your brother feel unwelcome. It was unacceptable. Is there any way you could forgive me?”

I blinked. “Yes,” I said, and he smiled. “Stay away from Beau. I’ll be your biology partner from now on.”

His smile slipped, just a little. “I had a feeling you would say something like that.” Then he lost his smile completely. “Maybe that’s for the best.” And he turned, walking toward the lobby.   
I followed, but was intercepted by Charlie and a dozen classmates who were clearly more excited to be out of class than to be supporting Beau or Tyler. 

I grabbed Charlie, avoiding any other people and ducking into the hallway.

“What did the doctor say?” 

“I don’t know, but he says he feels fine, and is ready to leave.”

We spent some more time with Beau, and eventually left. Beau kept looking around, as if he was searching for someone. Even on the silent ride home he kept glancing out of the windows. 

Beau----------  
When we got into the house, Charlie finally spoke.

“Um… Beau, you’ll need to call Renee.” He looked down, obviously guilty.

I groaned. “You told mom!”

“Sorry.”

I got out of the cruiser and two sets of hands appeared to make sure I didn’t fall and hit my head again. I just got angrier, though I knew neither of them had really done anything wrong. 

Mom was in hysterics, of course. I had to tell her I was fine thirty times before she would even calm down. She insisted we return home, forgetting she wasn’t even at home right now. But I had good reasons not to go back, and worse, I was beginning to think of reasons to stay.

I went to bed early. Rather, I went to my room early and couldn’t sleep for most of the night. 

Around eleven, I opened the back window. I didn’t really like the cold, but the sharp chill was a relief to the pain in the back of my head. I shut my eyes and felt the frigid wind in my face. It was minutes before I realized something was wrong. There weren’t any noises coming from the trees. No birds or animals, just the occasional leaves and needles rustling in the wind. Just as I opened my eyes, there was a soft knock on the door.

I shut the window as Bella pushed open the door. 

“I knocked,” she said, seeing me frown.

“I could have been doing anything in here,” I said. “You should wait until I open it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t leave your door cracked when you’re doing anything, please. Anyway, I have something to say. Something serious.”

I waited, ready for the worst. I didn’t want to talk about the crash, I didn’t want to talk about going back to Phoenix, and I definitely did not want to talk about Edward. 

“Wait, what are you doing awake? It’s a school night,” I said, moving to sit on the bed.

She sat at my desk chair, moving the pile of clothes onto the desk. “Like I am trying to say, I have something important to talk about, so stop trying to avoid it.”

“Okay.”

“Beau… I want to buy you out of your half of the truck.”

“I… oh!” I said. “Bella, you can just have it, as long as you keep giving me rides to school.”

“See, but the thing is I want it. Like for me to have and for you to get your own car.”

“Ah.”

“Here is my proposition. We’re going to Port Angeles on Saturday, so on Friday I can help you look around for a car, maybe look at newspaper ads. And remember Jacob Black?”

“Kind of, you were talking to him at the beach.”

“Yes, you remember he exists. Well, turns out he fixes up cars so even if you found a really bad beater, you could hire Jacob to help you fix it up. He needs parts for his cars so I’m sure he’d be glad to help out.”

“Sure,” I said. 

“And, Beau?” she asked, looking unsure. “About today, and all this Edward Cullen weirdness… Is it…? I mean, what happened?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said. “I don’t know what’s up with that guy. But I’ve decided that’s his problem.”

She bit her lip. “Let’s hope so,” she said. She rose and left the door wide open on her way out. I got up to close it, and glanced out of the window and the way back. 

I shuddered, and managed to get a few hours of sleep that night. It was the first night I dreamt of Edward Cullen.

Bella----------

The drive around town was short. The only newspapers were for surrounding cities, if one felt generous enough to describe the pamphlets of ads as newspapers and the large towns as cities. But we drove around anyway, looking for any cars with for sale signs in them, with no luck. 

“You can just have the truck,” Beau said, again.

“I’m fine with carpooling,” I replied. “But what happens when we both want to go somewhere? There isn’t any public transportation here. And when we go to college? What will the odds be we go to the same school?”  
I knew as soon as I said it, I wasn’t being kind. The insinuation was that Beau wouldn’t get accepted to the schools I would want to attend. “I mean, you’ll want to go to a sports school,” I added quickly, but he stared out of the window. 

Beau didn’t say anything, he just hummed an agreement and left it there. I tried to think of something else, but slammed on the breaks when something near the street caught my eye.

“Uh, Bella?” You’re blocking a driveway,” Beau said. And he saw them. “No.”

Two dilapidated motorcycles were rusting at the edge of a front lawn beside a sign that read FOR SALE, AS IS.

“I’m not getting on a motorcycle,” Beau said.

“I am not getting them for you,” I replied.

“What? You want the truck and a couple of death traps?” he asked incredulously. 

We both remembered what Charlie had drilled into us our whole lives; Motorcycles were reckless and stupid. Charlie didn’t get a lot of action on the force, but he did get a lot of calls for traffic accidents. With the long, wet, twisting stretches of highway snaking through dense trees with blind corner after blind corner, there was no shortage of accidents. But even with all the eighteen-wheelers barreling around the turns, most people walked away. The exceptions to that rule were motorcyclists. Charlie had seen plenty of them, mostly kids, smeared on the highway. He made us promise before we were ten that we would never accept a ride on a motorcycle. Beau was looking like he was about to remind me of all of that, and a lot more.

“I will buy you your entire car if you don’t tell Charlie,” I said.

“No, I’m going to,” he said.

“I am just giving them to Jacob,” I said. “So he will fix our cars whenever we need them. Also, because I want to see Jacob more,” I admitted. Beau would figure it out eventually.

“Oh.” 

I looked at him pleadingly.

“No, you can just go talk to him without motorcycles,” Beau said. “I’ll go with you, just don’t buy them. And since when did you have enough saved to buy motorcycles and a car?” 

“Some of us don’t spend all of our money to go to baseball games,” I sniffed, but began driving away.

We argued the rest of the way through town, but eventually saw a little sedan with a for sale sign. Beau got the number and we got home. He seemed reasonably assured I had given up on the bikes. And I had. For today.

He called the owner of the car and started his homework in his room.

“Need anything from the store?” I asked.

“I’m going grocery shopping tomorrow before Port Angeles,” he frowned.

“I’m going to the drug store.” Which was true, but my palms started getting itchy. I needed to make it down to La Push and back

“Why?” His eyes narrowed.

“Because I bleed once a month and-“

“Okay!” he said quickly. “Will you get me a soda?” He fished some change out of a jar on his desk.

“Sure,” I said.

And like that, I was off. 

I did stop by the store, but I also managed to visit the house again.

Since there was no number, I sloshed through the rain and rang the doorbell.

A kid, a few years younger than me opened the door, one of the Marks boys.

“Bella Swan?” He looked confused.

“How much do you want for the bikes?” I asked, jerking my finger over to the display.

“Are you serious?” he demanded.

“Of course I am,” I frowned.

“They don’t work.”

I sighed impatiently. This was something I had inferred from the sign.

“How much?”

“If you really want them just take them. My mom made my dad move them to the road so they’d get picked up with the garbage.”

“See, the thing is that I can’t pick them up today. I have to pick them up Sunday. Can I pay you to hold onto them until then?”

He sighed, thinking about it. “let me ask my dad.”

He disappeared back into the house, and I waited impatiently outside, sure that Charlie’s police cruiser would appear any minute.

Eventually, Mr. Marks came out to talk to me and we agreed I would give him just twenty dollars to hold the bikes until noon on Sunday, after they got back from church. I mentioned casually that they were for parts for Jacob, in case Mr. Marks was on friendly   
terms with Charlie. Then I thanked him, narrowly avoiding an invitation to the service, and got back as quickly as I could. 

When I got home, Beau eyes his soda suspiciously but didn’t say anything as I grabbed the cordless phone and went upstairs, grateful that we only had the one phone. 

The phone rang a few times before a voice answered “hello?”

“Hi Billy,” I said warmly. “It’s Bella, Bella Swan. Can I talk to Jacob, please?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://quileutenation.org/  
> https://quileutenation.org/history/  
> https://mthg.org/


	4. The Mall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are going to be several Beau Chapters but fear not, they will be followed by several Bella chapters

Beau----------

To my dismay, I was the center of attention at school for a while. Though the day after the accident, the only person I wanted to speak to was nowhere to be found.

I rushed Bella out of the house the next morning, though she ate her cereal one half-bite at a time, clearly spiting me. There was no Volvo in the parking lot when we got there, and I headed to French at the last possible second without getting a chance to talk to Edward.

He was at lunch again, but there was no way I could approach him with everyone watching, and even less of a chance he would give me any answers to my million questions.

But there was always biology.

When lunch was up I walked with Mike. I would let Bella sit down and then just sit at the other table. 

Mike was talking to me about the dance, something about the logistics of corsages in Forks, when I realized Bella wasn't with us.

I thought it would be easier without her there to casually sit next to Edward, but when we entered the classroom, she was already there. Sitting with Edward.

Of course; Bella must have known that I was going to throw her under the bus to talk to Edward. It was dumb to think she wouldn't have noticed me acting weird and looking around all day. 

I ended sitting next to Mike. I kept looking over at Bella, and maybe also Edward, to see what all of this was about, but they weren’t really even talking to each other. Though Bella had made a point of sitting next to Edward, marching over like she had something to say. And then they both sat down and proceeded to ignore each other.

Mike, however, seemed to think this was an opportunity.

“Does Bella like flowers?” He started with, and did not stop with the questions the entire class. It didn’t help that we were doing an open-book worksheet that we could do together. There was no silence to hide behind.

“So, uh, Beau. Does Bella have anyone she wants to ask to the dance?” Mike asked. 

“I don’t know,” I said, thinking about Jacob Black. “I don’t think she wants to ask anyone in particular.” I hoped that sounded final enough that he wouldn’t keep pushing it, but vague enough that he didn’t ask any follow up questions. 

“So, do you think anyone’s going to ask you to the dance?” I froze. “I think Angela likes you.”

I shrugged. “I don’t really know anyone well enough.” I knew I was red, and stared at the worksheet. I had finished, but continued to flip through the book, looking busy.

“For what it’s worth,” Mike added quietly, close enough that I could feel his breath on me. “I think Eric likes you too. You know, if you were not interested in like, a girl’s choice dance, specifically.”

I tensed, looking up in alarm. “Listen, I don’t know what you heard-“

“It’s cool, man it’s fine,” Mike said, a little smugly. “Eric has been my best friend my whole life. It doesn’t matter to me. But I do have to wingman for him, you know?”

“Oh,” I said, still looking down.

“So if you wanted to go to the dance, just think about it.” He said, clearly wanting an answer.

“I don’t really know Eric,” I said. “And anyway,” I added quickly, “I’m going to Seattle that weekend.”

“Oh, bummer,” he said. “Is Bella going with you? Or will she want to go to the dance?”

He kept on like that as I pondered the crash. How had Edward gotten there so fast? And why was no one else curious about it?

I realized, a little embarrassed, that no one else was watching him like me. Though I had good reason, I had no idea what he would do next. He glares at me, asks me about my life, saves it, and then ignores me. 

After school, I told Bella I was getting a ride home from Eric and ran to cut Edward off before he could drive away. I only slipped a few times and only fell once, but the ice was mostly gone.

I was rounding a corner when I almost fell again, but a cold hand caught me before I could collide with the ground.

“You don’t want to hit your head again,” Edward said in his musical voice, releasing me immediately and stepping around me.

“Hello, Edward,” I said as calmly as I could before he was out of earshot. “I want to speak with you.”

“Oh?” he asked, looking bored. This wasn’t the hostility, nor was it the sincere- or what I thought was sincere- interest. It was bored, an obnoxious arrogant boredom that I would even be talking to him implied in one syllable.

“Yes,” I said, reddening but terse. “What’s your problem?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, crossing his arms, and looking like a supermodel striking a pose.

“I mean this whole hot and cold thing. You glare at me like I did something to you, you disappear and come back all interested in me, then you save my life and then ignore me all day.”

“You think I’ve been ignoring you? I don’t usually talk to you, what makes you think I was going out of my way?”

“Well,” I was sure I was blushing deeply now, which only made him turn his nose up more.

“You did save my life yesterday. And there was no way you could have gotten there that fast, or stopped a van with your bare hands; Bella saw it to, and you don’t think I’d have questions?” I was feeling more and more ridiculous as I spoke.

“You and Bella were under a lot of stress,” he said. “And so was I. I apologize if I was busy speaking to my family, who were very concerned about me, and not interrupting you and your family at the hospital.” He sounded so cold.

“You know what,” I said, turning to hide my face before I started getting too emotional. “I won’t bother you anymore. Just do us both a favor, and next time a car is about to hit me just mind your own business.”

I walked off, headed home. I regretted telling Bella I had gotten a ride when I hadn’t, but Eric was still in the parking lot. I was weighing asking Eric for a ride home and possibly leading him on and walking home. Though who knows, I might like him if I got to know him better. I was sure I wasn’t brave enough to go to a dance though. I just kept walking through the rain, I could talk to Eric at school on Monday.

“Beau?” Edward said, right behind me.

“What?” I asked, not turning around. I would not get emotional in public. 

“Do you need a ride home?” he asked, more gently.

“No,” I decided, and walked over to Eric’s car. I saw Edward through the corner of my eye standing in the rain, watching us as I asked Eric for a ride, and watching as we drove away, even as he made his way over to a shiny Volvo.

Here’s what home smells like: It smells like paint from whatever project Mom was working on, it smells like piles of old books, of the permanent-dust smell that worn equipment bags have after seeing years of practices and games, of wins and losses. It smells like graphite from your sister’s sketchbook, it smells like food you made and other people you love eat it and like it. It was beginning to smell like the laundry detergent that always had to fill a house when clothes had to be washed constantly to avoid mildew; it smelled like the damp soil in the doorway where everyone took off their rainboots.

Bella had obviously lied about the bikes, but she came back without them and hadn’t been gone long enough to get to La Push and back. I would have to keep an eye open, but we only had one car anyway, so it wouldn’t be too hard. Saturday morning was busy. I had decided almost immediately after arriving in Forks that cooking was beyond Charlie, so I took the money out of the jar labelled “for food” and went shopping. I worked out better for everyone that Bella preferred laundry and cleaning to cooking and dishes anyway. I despised vacuum cleaners almost as much as her attempts at anything she couldn’t stick in a microwave.

I went about the morning methodically, doing the budget and the meals a few times on a notepad and taking my time. I had wanted to go to Port Angeles, but now there was so much going on that I felt more like making a lot of pasta and reading. It was drizzling, and the grey sky felt like it was sucking the life force out of me. 

I was putting the groceries in the passenger side of the truck when I dropped my keys, and a white hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbing them before I could.

“Hello, Beau,” said Edward. In the grocery store parking lot. I looked around, confused.

“Are you following me or something?”

“I also need groceries sometimes, Beau,” he smiled, much pleasanter than last time we had spoken. I almost forgot to be mad at him when I saw his green eyes were smiling.

“I thought I was very clear last time,” I said. “And how do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Appear out of thin air.”

“Beau, it’s not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant.”

“Right, well, I’ll be going then,” I said, holding my hand out for my keys.

“I’m sorry,” he said, not handing the keys over. “I’m not apologizing very well.”

“I thought you were supposed to be pretending I don’t exist, not irritating me to death.”

“I’m not pretending you don’t exist,” he said.

“So, you are trying to irritate me to death? The minivan didn’t do the job, and you regret it. Fine. Give me my keys.”

He dropped the keys into my hand, but muttered “I do not regret that. You’re being absurd.”

I slammed the door and made my way over to the driver’s side.

“I’m sorry,” he said, right behind me again. “That was rude.”

“Why don’t you just leave me alone?” I could hear the exhaustion in my own voice. Edward looked like he had been slapped. 

“Well, I was wondering, if two weeks from today, on the day of the dance-“

“Are you trying to be funny?” I hissed

“Please let me finish.”

“Why should I?” I asked, but knew that I would. 

“Because I am very sorry, and am trying to apologize?” he asked.

“Okay, what do you want?”

“I heard you were going to Seattle when Mike asked you in class that day and I wanted to know if you wanted a ride?”

Had Edward heard that whole conversation? How loud were we being? I flushed instantly, forgetting he had asked me a question for a beat too long.

“A ride with who?” I asked.

“Myself, obviously.” He enunciated, as if I was too stupid to keep up, but I was too stunned to be offended.

“Why?”

“Well, I was planning to go to Seattle in the next few weeks anyway. And to be honest, I’m not sure your truck can make it.”

“Who says I’m going in my truck?”

“Are you going with someone else?” he asked quickly.

“Why?” I responded, mostly because I didn’t have an answer. I had planned on taking the truck.

“Beau,” he said. “I know you have every right to dislike me right now, but I am trying to hang out with you. I want to be friends.”

“Why?” I asked again, but it was lacking the venom I was trying to inject. 

“That’s a very good question,” he said quietly. “But in a town this small, can anyone afford to not be friends?” He smiled, joking.

“Okay,” I said. “Why don’t we try to be friends at school for a while and then I will invite you to Seattle. Or not,” I said, and he grinned. And I smiled back, just a little.

I returned in plenty of time despite my best effort, and Bella was sketching something at the kitchen table. Usually it was scenes from books or landscapes, but when I peeked over her shoulder, it was a kid with long hair, smiling wide at something off the page. 

I began unloading groceries, and Bella closed her sketchbook.

“Angela called,” she said.

“About today?”

“Jessica, Lauren, Mike, and Eric are coming too. They want to look at clothes for the dance.”

“And?” I asked, knowing there was more.

“Stephanie is coming.”

I was already didn’t feel like going, but now I really didn’t want to. 

“What do you think?” I asked Bella. I didn’t want to take a ride from Eric and then seem like I was avoiding him.

“I think you should go or you’ll always feel like you’re hiding,” Bella said softly. “I’ll be there, and Eric and Angela will be there. They’re really nice.”

“You know, I think Mike is nice too,” I said.

“What?” she said, surprised. “Isn’t he a little… he’s a character,” she finished.

“Yeah, but he’s still nice,” I said. “He helps you in gym, even if he follows you around like a puppy. And,” I paused, unsure of how to say it. “He roundabout told me that he doesn’t care if I’m, you know,” I waved my had with a tomato in it. “He said Eric is his   
best friend and that he doesn’t care that he’s gay.”

“Oh,” Bella said. “But I still don’t want him following me around.”

“Why? Just tell him you don’t like him like that and maybe you can be friends. You’re a little judgmental sometimes,” I added, closing the fridge.

“He’s not a bad guy just because he’s annoying.”

“You know, I don’t think you can lecture me on friendships right now,” she said. 

“I don’t know what is up with that,” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “One minute he hates me, the next he is asking me a bunch of questions, and the next he’s ignoring me and then he says he wants to be friends.”

Bella stared. “You do not like Edward Cullen.”

I blinked. “What? I basically told him where he could shove it the last time I talked to him, which was very brave of me, thank you very much.” 

“When was this?”

“On my way to get a ride from Eric,” I said. I didn’t feel like talking about the encounter today; like if I told Bella and she thought it was a bad idea, Seattle with Edward would shatter before it could even possibly happen.

“He came up and talked to you?” Bella asked.

“I talked to him. What does it matter?”

“I just… I thought he was ignoring you.”

“And what exactly happened with the van?” I felt the words rushing out, a topic I had been dancing around for almost two days. “He wasn’t there, and then he was, and Bella, he stopped the van with his hands when it swung back around.”

“I… Beau, I think you hit your head,” Bella said, but she was speaking a note too high, and trying not to fidget. 

“You’re a bad liar. Why are you lying anyway? You saw it!”

“Beau,” she said, her voice lowering. “What do you think we should do? Tell everyone Edward is the flash? Or just move on and ignore him? I don’t particularly like him, anyway, and I don’t know why you do after that first day in class.”

“I never said I did,” I said, stung, though we both knew I was lying. 

I went to get ready for Port Angeles. I never cared that much about clothes beyond not embarrassing myself, but I wanted a backpack I could carry around anything I bought, and realistically, anything Bella bought. I was still mad at her, but there was an opportunity to be smug about it.

I contemplated not inviting Bella to Seattle, but it was her truck, and I would need her help convincing Charlie. I probably wouldn’t be mad at her for very long anyway, she didn’t really say anything that wasn’t true, and I’m the one who almost started yelling.

By the time we were both ready, I began to apologize, but Bella shook her head. 

“It’s fine, you get a pass for just having been in a car accident. But there won’t be another one,” she said dramatically, and we both laughed. We were meeting Angela at her place, and splitting the group between Mike and Angela’s cars. 

I hadn’t expected to get along with everyone so well. When Mike shuffled Bella into his hatchback and I followed into the backseat, Angela pulled Stephanie and Lauren into her car, followed by Jessica. Eric joined me in the back seat of Mike’s car, and the fear of Stephanie saying something was replaced by the guilt I felt about Eric, which was ridiculous. I didn’t owe him anything, except maybe a ride, but it wasn’t like we were betrothed or anything. 

“So, Bella,” Mike said. “Any plans for the dance?” 

“We’re going up to Seattle that day,” I told him. If Bella was surprised, she didn’t say anything.

“Oh, I didn’t know Bella was going with you,” Mike frowned, glancing at her. She hadn't known either.

“Eyes on the road,” she said.

“You’re going to Seattle?” Eric asked. “Like some anti-dance protest or you have other plans?”

“We’ve been meaning to go for a while,” Bella said. “We’ll see a well-stocked bookstore and whatever sports stuff Beau wants to look at.”

“Do you need a ride?” Eric asked. “I’m not going to the dance either.”

“Our truck is perfectly capable,” I said.

“My truck,” Bella muttered.

“I’m not saying it’s not,” Eric said quickly. “I just wanted to see if maybe you guys wanted some company. And I would get better gas mileage.”

The conversation blessedly drifted into cars and gas mileage, and we made it to the mall without further incident.

We were in several large box stores full of clothes for what seemed like hours. I wanted to go to the store alone, and I saw on one of the maps that there was a Dick’s sporting Goods down the hall from where we were. I waited until Eric was distracted with trying on clothes before trying to break away. All of us except him were waiting outside the changing room, with Jessica holding various necklaces up and trying to see which jewel-toned costume jewelry would look best with her enormous pink dress. 

“I’m going to see if there’s a Dick’s,” I said to Bella. 

“Bet you would love that,” said Stephanie, and she and Lauren snickered. I froze, and sure I was turning red, I tried to think of something to say.

“So?” asked Mike defensively. We all turned and looked at him. I saw Eric looked uncomfortable too, and Jessica was staring at her hands, fiddling with the sweater she was holding.

“So what?” Mike said again. “If he likes boys or not, who cares?” he said, and I looked around the store to make sure no one else was listening. There wasn’t anybody around.

“I agree,” said Angela quietly. “I don’t think that’s funny.”

“Whatever, it was just a joke,” Lauren said and stomped off, her arm around Stephanie.

“Thanks,” I said, not quite meeting Mike’s eye. 

“I don’t know why they wanted to come anyway,” said Jessica, obviously trying to side with Mike on whatever he said, even though she was closer to Lauren and Stephanie than anyone else.

“Come on, Angela,” she said, and grabbed her arm. “You still haven’t tried anything on. And you haven’t worn a dress since your quinceañera, which if that was anything to go by, you’re going to need my help.” They went to the pile of dresses by the racks.

“We’ll be back,” Mike said, and they waved dismissive hands at him.

“Where are you going?” Bella asked.

“I want to see if they have any hoops that will attach to my garage,” said Mike. 

It would only make sense to people in Forks to get a basketball hoop in an area with near-constant rain. Although, I realized, that was exactly what he was about to do with some temporary bases he could use for pickup games.

Bella and Eric decided to hit up a bookstore in the same direction as Dick’s, and I relaxed as we walked. Everyone here knew, I realized. They knew and they are all here laughing and talking with me, and not at me. I couldn’t quite describe the emotion, but I was in a much better mood. Bella and Eric broke off, and Mike hurried toward the basketball section.

I wandered over where I could see some gloves. They were right next to the large opening to the store, conveniently just around the corner. I didn’t need a new one, but I tried a few, wondering what kind the majors wore and what it would be like to have new gloves whenever you needed one. 

I wondered how Phil was doing, and regretted not calling. I talked to mom on the phone almost every other day, and Bella was sending her regular emails, but I had only asked about Phil- I hadn’t asked to speak to him. I realized suddenly that I missed him.   
That’s what I was thinking about when two guys came into the aisle. One was taller, and the other about my height with a black beanie hat pulled over shaggy blonde hair.

“That’s the guy they were talking about in the dress section,” a tall guy with a buzzcut said. I could smell the beer on him, and I put the glove I was holding down and backed away.

“What are you, like five nothing?” said the shorter guy, who was really only a few inches taller than my five six, a perfectly respectable height for someone my age pre-growth spurt. I spun around, but I was caught on the shoulder by the tall guy, and I couldn’t shake him off.

“What do you want?” I said, trying to sound tough.

“We just heard there was a Nancy dress-shopping and we don’t appreciate that here,” the shorter guy said, blasting his booze breath at me.

“Well, I’ll just be going then,” I said, as loudly as I could with my suddenly very dry throat, hoping the employees or maybe Mike would hear me.

“I don’t think that you will,” said Buzzcut, steering me toward the exit. The proximity of the gloves to the door suddenly didn’t seem so convenient.

I gulped down a large breath, ready to swallow my aversion to making a scene and just start yelling when, for the second time that day I heard an unexpected musical voice.

“Hello, Beau,” Edward said, his voice hard, though he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were on the hand of Buzzcut on my shoulder. “I was looking everywhere for you. I’m afraid I called security when we couldn’t find you. They’ll be here shortly.”

Buzzcut let go, pushing past, and although I almost tipped over, Edward did not budge a millimeter when he was shoulder checked. Buzzcut rubbed his arm and Beanie scurried after him. 

“I really did call security,” Edward said. “But just to report a few drunks making a public nuisance of themselves.” He smiled hesitantly, like he had done something wrong.

I blinked at him. “We have got to stop meeting like this.”

His mouth stretched into a grin and I joined him.

“So you technically just saved me, although I’m not sure it would have been fatal this time.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Edward muttered, his smile evaporating.

“So,” I continued. “This is the part where you start ignoring me, right? And then being mean to me and apologizing? Also, why are you here?”

“I am here with my sister Alice, to get a baseball bat, actually. And I’m not going to ignore you, or be mean to you. I’m sorry about that.”

“You play ball?”

He smiled again. “My whole family does.”

“That’s great!” I said, and immediately got embarrassed at how loud I sounded. “I mean, I can’t find enough people to get a pickup game going,” I said. “Maybe we can play sometime.”

“Maybe,” he said, but his smile was tight.

“Beau!” Mike said from behind me. I turned, and his mouth hung open for just a second before he said, “Is there a problem?”

“No,” I said quickly. “Edward just happened to be here and was saying hi.”

“Oh,” Mike said, obviously confused.

“I know I was being rude to Beau in class,” Edward said, “But I was just apologizing for my behavior. You’re Mike, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Uh, do you want to join us? A bunch of us came here together, but…”

“Actually, I was just inviting Beau to dinner.”

I stared at him. “What?”

“Would you like to go to dinner with me?” he asked. “There’s a place not too far from here that has very good Italian food. Or so I’ve heard,” he smiled.

“I… sure,” I said. There was no longer a question. Edward had saved me twice, he had stopped a van with his hands, and he was going to explain it to me. At least, that’s what I was hoping he was doing.

**Author's Note:**

> https://quileutenation.org/  
> https://quileutenation.org/history/  
> https://mthg.org/
> 
> I haven't published fanfiction in years, so please forgive any formatting issues I'm having while trying to upload. And thank several of my friends for insisting I publish this if anyone ends up liking it.


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